Guess
what? I've got a fever....and the only prescription
is more..puyo pop. Or is it cowbell? If you couldn't
see a version of Puyo Pop coming to the DS then you're
a consumer through and through. It was only a matter
of time that it made an appearance on the DS, as it
likely will on the PS3 and other future consoles.
Heads up consumers, marketing geniuses at work.

At
the heart of Puyo Pop Fever is a Tetris-based game
that is truly addicting, fun and somewhat unique even
though the Tetris influence is undeniable. Puyo Pop
is not the only game to copy the falling-block premise
but it's one of the better games at disguising its
origins so that it feels fresh.

You
probably understand the nuts and bolts of the gameplay
by now but I'll run through it again for newbies.
Round headed creatures, we'll call them orbs, fall
from the top of the screen and pile up in your play
area which is called a bin. These orbs are different
colors. By moving them around and matching them up
with other orbs of the same color you will make them
disappear. You must match four of them for this to
happen. The orbs that remain in your bin will fall
down, taking up the space left by the cleared orbs.
As soon as you clear all of the orbs you win the match.
If you let them pile up too high you lose. The premise
is simple but it can really get involved.

Linking
more than four orbs together results in a combo. Making
combos requires strategy and forethought. You have
to really think ahead to pull off some great combos.
You have to keep an eye out to see where the orbs
will fall when you clear other ones. It's like playing
shape in a game of pool but it can get a lot more
complicated. A genius might be able to calculate all
potential combos at a glance but for normal idiots
like us we'll be lucky to get a few good combos per
match.

Fever
is a new feature that rewards players for getting
strings of combos. It makes it much easier to clear
the bin when the Fever has been activated. While it's
nice to be rewarded, it sure doesn't help the poor
saps in the other bins that might really need the
help. You can turn the Fever mode off to make things
fair since it's the poor players that could use the
handicap.

Only
one cart is required for multi-player action via the
wireless network. It will facilitate up to eight players,
allowing everyone to have a view of all the other
players' bins. This is done by cutting the sprites
in half. It's more difficult to see but exceptions
will have to be made because the multi-player mode
is a gas. If you limit the number of players to four
it will display the sprites at full size which are
much easier to see.

The
touch feature of the DS is still a novelty with this
game. You don't really need it because you can make
all the necessary moves with the pad and the buttons.
You can use the stylus to point and draw angles with
but I didn't notice any benefits. It's still nice
to use the touch screen to navigate the menus.

I
really don't care for the sickening anime kids freaking
out all throughout the game. Puyo Pop could be considered
a lot more sophisticated and would probably see a
lot more adult sales if it weren't presented in such
a childish manner. I wouldn't mind playing this game
on a bus or in the dentist's waiting room but I would
be embarrassed if someone looked over my shoulder
and saw the animation. The sound is decent but because
the characters scream so much the volume is right
off when I play this anywhere but at home.

Puyo
Pop Fever has lots of surprises and packs a lot of
features - all of them useful. It's a really good
version that makes good use of the dual screen, touch
screen and wireless network.